The document discusses the traditional Greek diet and local foods. It focuses on foods like olive oil, fruits, vegetables, dairy, grains, honey, herbs and nuts that form the base of the Mediterranean food pyramid. It provides details on key crops in Greece like olives, citrus fruits, figs and pomegranates. The diet of the island of Crete is highlighted as particularly healthy due to its emphasis on olive oil.

1. GREEK DIET
AND
LOCAL FOOD

2. The Mediterranean food pyramid
It shows what food
we should eat so as
to be healthy and
how often we
should eat this kind
food. In Greece, we
grow all this kind of
food.

3. The food on the base of the pyramid is the food we
should eat every day.

4. The diet in the island of Crete is the best food food for
health and a long life. It is based on oil.

5. The products of our place
• Oil-olives
• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Dairy products (milk-
cheese etc.)
• Corn
• Honey
• Herbs-plants
• Nuts
• Wine

6. The history of the olive tree
• According to the
myth, the olive is the
gift of Goddess
Athena to the
residents of Athens
as they chose her as
the protector of their
city and they did not
accept the gift of God
Poseidon, the water.

7. The importance of olive in ancient times

8. The cultivation of olive
• The olive does not need much care and is grown in
almost all places in Greece, maybe because it was born
in Greece many many years ago.

9. From olive to oil
• In November we start to pick the olives in the traditional
way just like the ancient times: people hit the fruit of the
tree , it falls on the ground and they pick it on nets.

10. Precious oil
• Then, people separate
the fruit from the leaves,
take it to the olive mill
and produce the oil with
special machines.
• In the past, there were
no machines and people
did everything, as we
can see in the museums
of olive.

11. Oil and olives
• Apart from the oil, people eat the fruit of the oil.

12. Food which have oil as their main ingredient
• Tomatoes or peppers stuffed with rice
• Eggplants imam
• Greek salad
• Oil bagels

13. Citrus fruit(εσπεριδοειδή)- their history
• Ancient Greek did not know the citrus fruit. They saw
them when they travelled to far away places and the
myth of Esperides symbolizes the desire of the Greek
people to get those delicious fruit. According to the
myth, Hercules travelled far away and stole the fruit
which was guarded by the nymphs Esperides.

14. The cultivation of citrus fruit
• They are short trees whose leaves do not fall on the
ground and grow in countries with hot climate. Some
citrus fruit are: oranges, lemons, mandarins, bitter
oranges, citrus and pergamonto
• We call those trees “sour” because the taste of their
fruit is bitter and sweet and have many vitamins.
• Their enemy is cold and ice.

15. Products we get from citrus fruit
• The fruit, with which we
make juice, sweets,
jams, liqueur etc.
• The plants, with which
we make essential oils
and we use them as
medicine or for cosmetic
purposes.

16. The precious Pomegranate (ρόδι-rodi)
• It is the fruit which Pluto gave to Persephone in order to
“tie” her to Ades and it is the sign of the ELEUSINIAN
mysteries. In the Greek tradition, it is the symbol of
fertility, everlasting life and good luck. That is why, we
break pomegranates in weddings and New Year’s Day.
Their juice is rich in vitamins, iron, kalium and
antioxidants.

17. Fig, the most ancient fruit
• In Greece, we grow the fig tree before the time
of Homer. Homer also says that the aim of the
the campaign of the king of Persia, Xerxes was
to conquer Athens so as to eat fresh figs and
not eat only dried figs. The fig, the olive and the
vine are most ancient trees.

18. Herbs-Aromatic Plants
• In Greece, nature is full of a great variety of
herbs and aromatic plants which are healthy and
make our food delicious. If you go for a walk in
the greek nature, you will pick plenty of them.

19. We hope you learnt the most important products of
Greece and their nutritional value. We hope you visit
Greece and taste all of them.
Ευχαριστώ(Efharisto)
Thank you
Dziękuje